Deuteronomy 13 is a chapter about remaining faithful to God and refusing to follow anyone or anything that leads you away from Him. The central message is no matter how convincing someone may seem, God must remain your highest priority. Moses warns Israel that a prophet or dreamer may perform a sign or miracle and still be false. Even if what they predict appears to happen, if they tell people to follow other gods, Israel must reject them. The thing to remember is that miracles alone do not prove someone represents God. The message must agree with God’s truth. God says this can be a test of whether His people truly love Him with all their heart and soul. Jesus gave us a similar warning about false prophets and false messiahs. Matthew 23-24 says, “If anyone tells you then, ‘See, here is the Messiah! ’ or, ‘Over here! ’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” Today for us this means if anyone tries to deny Jesus as the son of God or that he is the one and only way to the Father. For example, Islam follows the teachings of Muhammed. Muslim’s actually believe in Jesus. They believe that he was good teacher, but they do not believe that he was the son of God or that he was crucified and rose from the dead. Another example is Mormonism. They follow the teachings of Joseph Smith. They also believe in Jesus. They just believe in the Jesus that they have created. We have to be careful to make positively sure that the Jesus from the Bible is the Jesus that is the Lord of our lives. This is why reading the Bible daily and staying in his word is so important for our faith. When we memorize scripture and hide God’s word in our hearts we are allowing God to tell us who he is instead of letting the world tell us who God is.
This chapter also teaches that God must come before relationships. No relationship should become more important than our relationship with God. Jesus makes it very clear in Matthew 10:37-39. He says, “The one who loves a father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; the one who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it, and anyone who loses his life because of me will find it.” Jesus was teaching us that our loyalty to God must be greater than every other loyalty. If God is calling us to do something for him do we allow people or our circumstances pull us away from Him? Do we simply follow him? Do we follow the crowd? This is the hard question that we as believers have to wrestle with every day. Will we follow God if it costs us something? Truth does not become truth simply because a large group of people believes something. An entire city could be wrong. Culture, friends, coworkers, social media, and popular opinions can all influence us away from God’s truth. Jesus often calls us to go against the crowd. In Matthew 7:13 he says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it.” Following Jesus will not always mean following what is popular. Eventually, we have to decide who we are truly serving.
What is crazy to think about is that Jesus was accused of being a false prophet. When Jesus came, some religious leaders accused Him of being a false teacher and even claimed that His power came from Satan, but Jesus did not lead people away from God. Jesus revealed God, fulfilled the scriptures, called his people to repentance, and died to reconcile people to the Father. The religious leaders of that day had to answer the same question that Deuteronomy 13 required Israel to answer. Does this person truly lead people away from God, or is He actually the One God promised? The answer revealed through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and fulfillment of Scripture is that Jesus is not a false prophet. He is the Son of God and the Messiah.
The difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is that we are not commanded to punish or harm people who follow false religions. Jesus, God in the flesh, stooped down to our level to save us from our sins and to show us how to live a perfect life. When we need someone to look up to we look up to him. He was perfect in every way and the only one we should compare ourselves to. Jesus’s example teaches us to spread the truth, love people, pray for people, and call people to repentance. In Matthew 5:43-44 Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
This chapter ultimately calls us to not let anyone pull us away from Jesus. Not a preacher, not a miracle, not a friend, not our family, and not an entire culture. Jesus brings truth to its fullest meaning. He calls us to remain faithful to Him because He is the true revelation of God and the only way to the Father. We must follow Jesus no matter what happens, no matter what we gain or lose, Jesus must remain Lord of our life. Love y’all! Have a great day!
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